Last updated: October 21, 2026

If you have ever subscribed to Hallmark+ expecting to put the Hallmark Channel on your television, you already know the problem. They are two different things, and the difference decides which one you need. Hallmark+ is an on-demand service. The Hallmark Channel is a cable network, and the only way to watch it is through a live TV service that carries it. Countdown to Christmas 2026 runs from Friday, October 16 through the end of December, with 34 new original movies premiering across the season. Below is every legitimate way to watch, what each option actually includes, and the cheapest one. If you are looking for the wider holiday catalogue rather than Hallmark specifically, that is covered separately in where to watch Christmas movies in 2026.

Hallmark+ and the Hallmark Channel Are Not the Same Thing

This is the part that trips people up, so it comes first.

Hallmark+ is an on-demand streaming service. It is the rebranded version of the old Hallmark Movies Now, relaunched in September 2024. What it does, and does well, is give you Hallmark's library on request: new Hallmark Channel movies and series arrive the day after they air, alongside the back catalogue and Hallmark+-exclusive originals you cannot watch anywhere else. What it does not do is stream the Hallmark Channel. There is no live feed of the network inside Hallmark+.

Hallmark+ does include always-on streaming channels, which run continuously. It is easy to assume those are the network. They are not. They play from the on-demand library on a loop, so the movie airing on the Hallmark Channel at eight o'clock is not what you will find there.

The Hallmark Channel is a linear cable network. It is the thing that runs holiday movies around the clock from mid-October through December, and it is why the season feels like a season. Watching it live requires a service that carries the channel, which means a cable package or one of the live TV services in the table further down.

So: subscribe to Hallmark+ if you want the movies on your own schedule, the day after they premiere. Get a live TV service if you want the channel itself, with its round-the-clock holiday programming, the premieres at 8/7c as they happen, and everything else in the lineup.

Plenty of people end up with both, and it is not an unreasonable combination: Hallmark+ so nothing is missed, and a cheap live TV plan for the channel. But if you only want one, you now know which one that is.

Watching On Demand: Hallmark+

Hallmark+ costs $8.99 a month or $79.99 a year, after a seven-day free trial. The annual plan works out to roughly $6.67 a month, so if you are subscribing for the season and expect to keep it into next year, the yearly price is the better deal.

Membership includes:

• New Hallmark Channel movies and series, streaming the day after they air
• Hallmark+ originals that do not air on the network
• The back catalogue of Hallmark films and series
• Always-on streaming channels
• A $5 monthly coupon for Hallmark Gold Crown stores and hallmark.com, a free custom card each month, and extra Crown Rewards points

Hallmark+ is also sold as a Prime Video Channel add-on, and the price is identical: $8.99 a month or $79.99 a year, with the same seven-day free trial. It does not cost more to buy it through Amazon, and if you already watch everything inside the Prime Video app, subscribing there keeps it in one place instead of adding another app to the pile. You can subscribe to Hallmark+ on Prime Video directly.

A note on Peacock. For several years Hallmark had an arrangement under which Countdown to Christmas premieres appeared on Peacock for three days after airing. That deal ended on May 1, 2025, and Hallmark's library and live feeds were removed from Peacock. Hallmark+ is the only on-demand home for new Hallmark movies, and Peacock is not an option for this season. If a guide tells you otherwise, it is out of date.

If your question is whether a seasonal subscription is worth it at all, the honest framing is that Hallmark+ is the cheapest way to watch new Hallmark movies, full stop. It costs less than any live TV service that carries the channel, and it is the only place the exclusive originals live. For more on how seasonal subscriptions stack up against each other as prices move, see every streaming price increase in 2026.

Watching the Hallmark Channel Live

Seven services matter here. Each one below was checked against its own published channel lineup on October 21, 2026.

The cheapest confirmed option is Frndly TV, at $8.99 a month. It is not cheap because it is limited. Frndly carries all three Hallmark channels, Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Mystery and Hallmark Family, on every plan including the cheapest one, and it is the only service here that treats Hallmark as the main event rather than one channel buried in a ninety-channel bundle. If you want one channel and not a full cable replacement, this is the answer. It is not the best service in the table. It is the cheapest one that delivers what a Hallmark viewer actually wants, and those are different claims.

A few notes on the rest. Philo is next at $25 a month and includes all three Hallmark channels plus unlimited DVR, which is worth it if you want a broader lineup alongside Hallmark. YouTube TV carries Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Family and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries on its main $82.99 plan. Hulu + Live TV carries the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Mystery but not Hallmark Family. DirecTV carries the Hallmark Channel on channel 312 from its $89.99 Entertainment package upward, and Hallmark+ is not sold through DIRECTV at all. Sling is the awkward one, since Hallmark is in no base plan and the Lifestyle Extra add-on pushes a Sling Orange or Blue subscription to roughly $52 a month.

Fubo carries the Hallmark Channel in its base Pro plan at $88.99 a month, confirmed in Fubo's own channel list. It is not the cheap route, but if Hallmark is one of several channels you want from a full live TV service, it is a legitimate option: see Fubo's live TV plans.

Free Options

There is a free way to watch Hallmark movies, with one important caveat.

Hallmark runs Hallmark Movies & More, a free ad-supported channel it describes as a curated selection of movies, series and specials from the Hallmark library. It runs on Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Xumo and Plex. No subscription, no sign-in, no cost.

The caveat is what is on it. Hallmark Movies & More plays the back catalogue: older films from the library on a curated rotation. It is not the Countdown to Christmas schedule, and it is not where the 2026 premieres are. If you want to watch a Hallmark Christmas movie for free, this is a real option. If you want the new ones, or the channel as it airs, it is not a substitute.

Some older titles also turn up free on other ad-supported services from time to time. Availability shifts, so it is worth checking before you assume a particular film is free anywhere.

The 2026 Season

This section covers the current season and is rewritten each October. Everything above holds year to year.

Hallmark's 17th annual Countdown to Christmas began Friday, October 16 and runs through the end of December, with holiday programming airing around the clock across the whole stretch. The 2026 lineup carries 34 new original movies, ten more than 2025 and the most Hallmark has ever premiered in a single season.

New movies premiere every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 8/7c on Hallmark Channel, and stream the following day on Hallmark+.

Three films are the season's tentpoles, and Hallmark has announced premiere dates for all three:

• Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story — Saturday, October 17, starring Lyndsy Fonseca and Robert Buckley. The third entry in Hallmark's NFL collaboration, filmed in and around Chicago.
• Holiday Ever After: A Disney World Wish Come True — Saturday, November 28, starring Lacey Chabert and Travis Van Winkle.
• A Grand Biltmore Christmas — Saturday, December 5, starring Holland Roden, Niall Matter, Andie MacDowell and Jonathan Frakes. The second film set at the Biltmore.

Mistletoe Murders also returns for a third season during the event. Hallmark publishes the complete 34-movie schedule and a downloadable programming guide on hallmarkchannel.com, so we are summarising here rather than reproducing a list that shifts. If you are planning the season for a household with children, the best Christmas movies to stream with your kids covers the family end of the catalogue.

How StreamingBeam Helps

Hallmark titles are spread thin. A film can sit on Hallmark+, be missing from Pluto TV, turn up as a rental somewhere else, and be absent entirely from the service you already pay for. StreamingBeam searches across every major service at once, so when you want one specific Hallmark movie, a favourite from three seasons ago or the one you half-remember, you can see exactly where it is available, whether that means a subscription, a rental, or nowhere at all. You can also feed your current subscriptions into StreamingBeam's streaming cost calculator to see what the whole pile costs you each month.

Closing

This post is refreshed each October, when Hallmark announces the new season and every carriage detail above is checked again against each provider. To search a specific Hallmark title across every streaming service at once, visit https://streamingbeam.com.

Disclosure: StreamingBeam earns affiliate commissions on some links in this post, including the Amazon and Fubo links above. These commissions help keep this site running and do not affect the price you pay.